Definitely Not the Taby
by Upon-A-Blue-Moon
Summary: He was lost on the brink of sleep, a sort of hazy, deeply enjoyable state, when something shifted by his side. Kyo? Impossible – or at least he hoped it was. The tabby from the neighbors house? Also, hopefully impossible. ‘Ritsuka,’ he understood. SxR
1. Chapter 1

Here we go, a Loveless fanfiction... this is long overdue. :) I hope you enjoy, and please leave coments and critique! I need to get better. by how much? ill let you judge.

--

He could feel the immense brightness of the room through his closed eyelids, burning colorful blots into his vision. He could feel the heat of it, too. It painted his cheeks and shoulders in a kind of restless warmth, the kind that forced you to wake up, to feel energetic. But, thankfully, his master hadn't commanded him to get up as of thus, and so he allowed himself to lay still, enjoying the summer morning, ignoring it's alluring perkiness. He was lost on the brink of sleep and consciousness, a sort of hazy, deeply enjoyable state, when something shifted by his side.

Kyo? Impossible – or at least he hoped it was. The tabby from the neighbors house? Also, hopefully impossible. The… 'thing' shifted once more, and this time, what suspiciously resembled two feline ears brushed against his chest. '_Not the tabby, not the tabby, please not the tabby….' _Then the haziness vanished in a snap;

'_Ritsuka,'_ He understood.

He forced the little brain-power currently at his command to recall the night before. Well, while that was happening – or trying to happen – a quick physical check was in order. For starters, he seemed to be fully clothed. Good; For Ritsuka, in any case. Although… why did everything hurt so much? He half-heartedly forced the tips of his fingers into action, sending immediate pain shooting down his arms and through his torso. Reflexively, he stilled his muscles and waited for the searing pain to subside before releasing a breath he hadn't known he was holding. Slowly, slowly, he dragged himself from the state of lazy sleep he had been so enjoyably immersed in. By now, his memory had began to float languidly into place. Spells, chains, Ritsuka, more spells… more Ritsuka… From this striking recollection he managed to conclude that the soreness, the lack of sleep, and, apparently, the Ritsuka next to him, were the result of a spell battle the night before. This deciphered, he felt entirely contempt; so much so, in fact, that sleep was sounding pretty damn good again. Maybe for just a minute or two…

There was something heavy on his hip, Ritsuka realized, as he toyed with the idea of waking up.

_'Nope.'_ He concluded a split-second later.

He attempted to shake the bothersome weight off of himself with as little movement as possible; '…._urg, go away…' _He though, aggravated. Alright, alright…this called for desperate measures; he would have to open his eyes. His entire body protested as he propped himself up on one elbow, to squint against the mornings' sunshine.

'_Oh god no….' _

'_Wake up, wake up, wake up, this can't be happening…!'_ His mind screached, a dark shade of red already spilling across his cheeks.

Soubi lay next to him, his hair falling about his shoulders, set to golden flames by the brightness of the room. A spider wed of thin strands framed his face, covered the pillow and shadowed his closed eyes…. He seemed to have fallen asleep in full attire; shoes, jeans, jacket and all. So, Ritsuka realized, had he. The difference remained, though, that the older man's shirt was unbuttoned nearly the entire way down, revealing a couple of dark-rimmed bruises. One hand he had laid his head on, the other, was sprawled rakishly over Ritsuka's waist.

'_Soubi…'_ Images of the evening prior raced through his head; screaming at Soubi for not calling him to the fight, screaming at him for acting as though he was alright… screaming at him because he had felt so helpless, watching the man smile so earnestly, with blood running down his chin….

He forced the thoughts away quickly, feeling the helplessness he had felt then sweep over him again. Instead, he let his fingers dance over Soubi's hand, scrapping away a drop of dried blood as he did, and carefully pushed it off of himself. _'Quiet,'_ he told himself as he hoisted himself up from the mattress.

'_Soubi's apartment'_ his mind had already registered.

He traced an all-too-well-known route to the medicine cabinet. Ah, antiseptic. By now, that was the one thing at Soubi's place he could find in the dead of night, blind folded.

He twisted the cap off, rummaged around for a cotton ball, and walked back over to the bed. Soubi lay still where he left him, looking unusually… normal. Sleep had robbed him of his free-flowing, sly manner, his easy smile. He looked _human_; tired, content, but human. Yet as normal as he appeared, it only took Ritsuka one more long, hard look to be able to peal that false front away; there was something gracefully mystifying about that man. The way his words seemed to linger in the air, the way he never walked, but _glided_, the way the more of himself he tried to conceal, the more Ritsuka earned to tear it all away. Like a butterfly's cocoon, Soubi's world was distant and disconnected from his own…

Ritsuka let those ever-reoccurring thoughts slip away for the moment, realizing that the cap was long separated from the bottle, and he was twisting it uselessly about it's neck. Shaking his head, he leaned over Soubi's sleeping figure, and carefully pulled the remaining buttons of his shirt apart; many were undone, others simply torn off. He shuddered at the sigh – cuts, angry marks and dark bruises littered his skin. Ritsuka recalled how apathetic Soubi had always been to his own well-being the night before; Ritsuka himself had not a scratch on his body, thanks to _this_ idiots lack of self-preservation. He grunted, annoyed, and tilted the antiseptic fluid onto the cotton ball.

Then he set to work.


	2. Chapter 2

Extremely short chapter, i know! just waiting for some feedback before I continue with this.

--

Forcing the redness from his cheeks, he examined the sleeping man's body for any serious damage it might have sustained, cleaning every cut he stumbled upon. Soon the acidic smell of antiseptic wafted throughout the room, making Ritsuka's eyes water, and still, Soubi lay sleeping soundly. And a good thing, that was; Ritsuka shivered, and his cheeks turned cherry-red again as he imagined what he might have said, should he have woken up to find Ritsuka leaning over him, that close…

'Ok, too much thinking… bad, bad, bad. No, no thinking. That's better for now. Just don't think about it.'

Ristuka hastened his movements, suddenly extremely conscious of their close proximity and hoping desperately to finish very, very soon. While working, he had scampered onto the mattress, sacrificing personal space for a better reach to the sleeping man's many injuries. Now, he sat straddling the said mans lower thighs, shaking nervously and hating himself for it.

His heart hammered loudly as he trailed his soaked cotton ball down Soubi's pale stomach, reaching for an especially nasty scratch right above the denim waistband of his jeans.

He stopped mid-breath as soon as he properly looked the scratch over.

'Why?!' he wailed mentally.

Slaping his forehead with his free hand, he peeked through his fingers back at the offending mark - it was long and thick, stretching from just to the right of Soubi's belly button, to the slope of his right hip only to dive mockingly under the rim of those jeans that Ritsuka had been trying to hard to avoid.

That, that was off-limits territory. That was far too much, far too… low! He simply wouldn't clean it, Ritsuka concluded stubbornly. Soubi could take care of that himself, there was no need for him to go out of his way to put this dimwit back together every time he fell apart.

The boy huffed, his ears flattening into his messy black mop of hair as a sudden wave of anger washed over him. He didn't need to be doing any of this! Didn't need to be staring at Soubi's smooth, naked chest, didn't need to be letting his fingers linger on every especially temping expanse of skin, didn't need to be – oh god he didn't need to, but he wanted to.

A shudder ran up the boys spine as he noticed with regret just how tight his own jeans had become across his groin. His body was betraying him he thought sourly, watching his hand hover above the rust-colored button of Soubi's pants.

'To clean the cut, just to clean that cut!' He told himself, choosing to forget his decision to ignore it altogether. His throat dry, he brought the zipper down with one tug.

"I'm still using those"

Ritsuka had never moved so fast in his life; barely had his ears registered a sound, let alone Soubi's silky voice, he had flown to the other side of the bed, falling unceremoniously from the edge with a thud and the whirl of blankets.


	3. Chapter 3

He would just remain there, he decided – face firmly planted into the hardwood, rear awkwardly in the air, in a coffin of blankets. Yes, dieing didn't sound at all unappealing at the moment, and it was definitely multiple times better than resurfacing to face Soubi. How, pray-tell, was he supposed to explain to this pervert that removing his pants in his sleep was entirely innocent?! That didn't even sound innocent to Ritsuka himself.

Soubi examined the picture before him – from the edge of the bed where he lay, all that could really be seen was a spindly black tail wagging furiously at his eye-level. The rest was a tangle of awkwardly jutting teenaged limbs and a still-warm comforter on the floor below him. He craned his neck for a better view, unable to suppress the sloppy grin that slid across his face as he was greeted with the sight of his master's ducked head, and more importantly, raised hips.

"You look lovely this morning, Ritsuka." He smirked cheekily.

Groan from somewhere within the blankets.

"Are you planning on coming up, or shall I continue talking to your tail… and everything it is attached to?"

Angry squeal from same place within the blankets.

"Soubi you pervert!"

Ritsuka rocked back on his heels, quickly finding himself sitting upright and pulling a white sheet over his head.

"… It wasn't what it looked like." he grumbled.

Soubi was almost certain he could see the boy's flushed skin shine through the fabric.

"Oh?" The sly man brushed his straw-colored hair behind one ear before deftly plucking away anything obscuring Ritsuka from his sight - He really wanted to see him explain this.

Ritsuka, hands shaking and eyes firmly averted to the floor as it was spectacularly interesting, shifted his hips uncomfortably under Soubi's amused stare;

"I was just, you know, taking care of your cuts a-and that one - " He momentarily looked up, pointing out the offending mark, and immediately regretted it as Soubi's undone jeans met him at eye-level.

"Ah! Do those up, Soubi!"

"Is that an order?"

"Uh, god, no, I'm just ask–"

Score. The soft, sly grin never left Soubi's lips as he trapped Ritsuka's fingers in his own before the boy had the chance to blink.

"In that case, you having undone them, you do them up." He all but purred, cutting him off and slowly pulling the boy's hand to where it had hovered above the jean button what now seemed to be a long time ago.

"What, ngh, n-no Soubi, I-I no, d-do it yourself….." His eyes never left their entertained hands as the larger of the two guided what he understood must be his own fingers to their destination. If not for his logical thinking, he would never believe that that was, indeed, his appendage – it was as though it had a mind of it's own.

Why wasn't he resisting? He thought idly. Possibly because his lightheadedness had draped a veil over all things that indicated he should stop…

Unlike the younger male, Soubi had eyes only for the beautiful boy in front of him. He watched him intently as within seconds his entire demeanor changed; a moment ago, Ritsuka sat stiffly upright, hands clasped tightly in his lap, skin painted scarlet with embarrassment. Now, his shoulders hung limply forward, falling and rising irregularly with the breaths that made his dry, parted lips quiver. His eyes were half-idled, the scarlet shade on his cheeks leaking onto his usually milk-white neck.

Ritsuka shuddered involuntarily as his fingertips brushed the rough fabric of Soubi's jeans, snapping him out of his drunken state. Suddenly it was no longer his mind making the decisions, rather his body, and that, at the moment, was humming with an unquestionable desire.

"No." He said lowly, running his hands along the creases of the jean, outlining the older man's groin boldly. Soubi raised an eyebrow.

"Leave them like this." The origin of this shamelessness was a mystery to him, but there Ritsuka was, he realized, acting much more like Soubi usually did. 'I've been spending too much time around him' he thought briefly before looking up at the man through thick lashes, as though daring him to disagree.

He didn't.

Instead, the moment Ritsuka lifted his eyes, hands dashed to his sides, pulling him flush against the side of the bed. The boy took in a deep gasp, reflexively propping his forearms against Soubi's chest and unknowingly pressing the palms of his hands against two pink spots on otherwise white skin. Soubi exhaled raggedly against the soft fur of his master's ear, noticing the hairs stand on end following his action. He wrapped his arms more securely around the impossibly small waist between them, pulling Ritsuka up to sit on his own hips, the younger male's chin pressed between his neck and shoulder and blew against the downy black fur again, relishing the reaction he received.

This time he dared to softly capture the black tip between his teeth, pursing his lips against the hot fur and flicking his tongue against it ever-so-carefully; he knew by now that one bold move - one step too far - and this rare chance to show his master how he wanted him like nothing else in the world, would be over. One wrong touch and Ritsuka's ears would fold back against his scalp angrily, he would push himself away from Soubi with stiff hands, and be certain to slam the door on his way out.

It had happened many times before.

However, this time was different. Soubi knew that when a small, stifled "oh" broke away from Ritsuka's lips, which were now firmly clasped against his neck. He was trying to stay quiet, the man realized.

That, he was – having lay his forehead on Soubi's shoulder, Ritsuka found himself surrounded by warm, sleep-smelling skin and the same golden spider web of hair he observed earlier that morning. He pressed his lips against the soft junction of Soubi's neck. The small sounds that managed to escape his throat made him feel stupid; he had never thought he'd be tempted to make them, although, admittedly, he had never thought he'd being doing any of this.

Less cautious now, Soubi trailed nips, licks, barely-there kisses along the side of the boy's jaw, watching the skin become littered in goosebumps as his lips became more demanding. Soon Ritsuka was arching the small of his back forward, pressing himself against his stomach and chest, straining his neck to allow Soubi more room to play along the supple skin. His fingers curled almost painfully against the older male's shoulders, short nails scraping his flesh and then immediately smoothing over the crescent-shaped marks with his palms.

Soubi's hands, too, were not idle – Ritsuka noticed that when suddenly, those long pale fingers were stroking skin, and no the fabric of his shirt.

"S-soubi!" He gasped, alarmed, attempting to prop himself up and failing as strong hands pushed him back down against the man.

"Yes," Came his murmured reply, his lips still refusing to part from the neck they were assaulting. Undaunted by Ritsuka's discomfort, his hands had crept along his bare sides, drawing indecipherable patterns there.

"Soubi let me go!"


	4. Chapter 4

Yeah, yeah, it's like... tiny. But i had to end it there! It was just so tempting! To make it up to you, i'll have more up by tomorrow - thats a pormise. :)

"Soubi let me go!"

"Is that an --"

"Yes!"

Ritsuka barely recognized his strangely high-pitched voice as he scrambled to distance himself from the man. All of the sudden his shyness was back, and this was just all too much for him – Soubi had left his neck wet and burning hot, and he felt himself blush madly as he remembered those lips he was now staring at on his skin.

"I-I just, uh, Soubi let's stop okay? You, um lets just pretend this didn't happened. I didn't know what I was thinking -- "

Soubi tuned out the boy's rambling three words into it – he knew this would last a while. Ritsuka was still sitting with one leg on either side of his hips, but now he held him at arm's length, instead of flush against him. He felt cold without the closeness, and fought the urge to clamp a hand against Ritsuka's mouth, drag him back and continue what he had been doing. 'Too chatty' he sighed mentally, waiting for the adorably blushing boy to finish.

" -- soubi! Soubi are you listening to me?! A-and we really shouldn't be, and you know, please, lets just not talk about it, I mean, I won't if you wo— "

"I don't think you want me to stop." Alright, so waiting hadn't worked out for Soubi. He had been letting his eyes and mind wander, willing the endless chatter of the boy to become a buzzing, disconcerning backdrop when something very interesting caught his attention. That something pressed quite harshly against his hip, where Ritsuka sat… it was definitely safe to assume the boy had enjoyed what Soubi was doing earlier.

Soubi smiled almost angelically, and immediately, Ritsuka was worried.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that Soubi…?" He said warily, fidgeting.

"Admiring how cute you are."

Receiving a scowl, he decided it was best to continue – "and noticing…" Soubi led his eyes to their joined hips, inviting Ritsuka's to follow. "that." He finished.

The boy wanted to die. Painfully, slowly, it didn't matter, anything to escape this. Where Soubi's eyes were now lingering, Ritsuka's jeans had become strained and tight with arousal.

Kyo had just barely managed to heave his sleep-deprived body to one side of the bed when his elbows gave way.

"Umph!"

He was back where he started – nose buried in an alluringly soft, warm, Soubi-smelling pillow. Was it creepy to steal his roommate's pillowcases? Kyo didn't think so.

He exhaled loudly, amused at how his breath stirred his crumpled mint green bangs. Ohh, he was a funny one. Grinning childishly, he gave it one last shot – hands on either side of his stomach, deep breath in, and…

push!

With huge effort, he separated his bare torso from the bed sheets.

'Cooolllddd…'

Scrambling to keep his newly-gained footing, he teetered from one leg to the next, narrowly avoiding the cracked beer bottle lying inconspicuously on the floor. Why was that there?

Oh, right – Gay bar. Last night. Loud Techno.

Kyo sighed contentedly, ready for a lollipop… immediately followed by an aspirin. His headache hinted that the beer bottle was only one of many, although his memory recalled none of them.

He ruffled his hair sleepily, humming a tune that had found it's way into his head, possibly from the night before, while shuffling towards the kitchen.

" – oh…!"

"Soubi..!"

Kyo's eyes bulged. Struck mid-step, he pivoted his head towards Soubi's room, where a muffled female voice penetrated the closed door. Sou-chan – his Sou-chan – (albeit he didn't know about belonging to Kyo) was getting busy with some girl. What did she have that he didn't have?!

Kyo looked down at his flat chest.

Alright, other than that?!

Another stifled sigh from behind the door, and Kyo was fuming. For months, he had been cooking this man's meals, cleaning his apartment, doing his laundry – yes, boxers and all, practically throwing himself at the blonde, and nothing. Not even one, measly lay! And suddenly, miss who-knows-what waltzes in and has his man wrapped around her finger.

It was probably an ugly finger, too. As ugly as fingers got.

Huffing determinedly, Kyo plucked a new lollipop from its wrapper and pushed it between his lips. Oh she was going to get it now… he tugged at his loose sleeping pants, letting them ride low on his hips – let Soubi see what he was missing out on – and marched towards his roommates door.


	5. Chapter 5

Okay, so i lied... i definitly did not update the next day. TT I'll use higschool as an excuse. Sure. im horribly busy, it being the second week and all. Sigh i'm so not sure about this chapter!! quite frankly i think Ritsuka is so unrealistic in this one. totally cardboard cut-out. :P tell em what you think, and if one of you agrees, I'll go back and tweak it up (aka scrap it and conjure up soemthing new)  
- much love, Upon A Blue Moon

--

"Agatsuma Soubi I cannot believe you'd do this to me! "

A cracked door hinge creaked miserably behind him, plaster falling from the doorknob-shaped dent in the wall.

His entrance was a little too dramatic – his wallet was not going to thank him for it. Maybe he could just dab a generous glob of white paint into the hole and leave the door open a lot to cover it.

It's not like he was going to give Soubi the privacy it offered from now on, anyways.

He whipped his head back around to the traitor and his accomplice

"What are you doing with…."

"Him?!"

Kyo's eyes were larger than his lollipop, which by now lay in two pieces on the hardwood.

Soubi and a very male 12-year-old kid stared back at him in a very compromising position. What was his name? Oh to hell, did it matter?! Kyo panicked;

"Get him… get him off your lap!" he wrinkled his nose and swatted at the offending boy peevishly. He felt like gagging. If it was some pretty made-up bitch he had found in here, he would have yanked her by her pretty badly bleached-blonde hair and tossed her from the window – after all, it was such a pretty day outside. He'd call it suicide.

But him? What was he supposed to do to him? Yank his virgin ears?! He'd eat grass before admitting he was jealous of some ear-clad minor.

"Soubi, what are you doing with him?!"

Ritsuka sat frozen stiff, his legs curled under and around Soubi, clutching to his shirt. Oh this was bad, this was so much more than bad. How had he ever allowed any of this to happen, to get this far? He was barely halfway through school! He was not supposed to be finding himself in these sorts of situations.

He threw a scared glance at Soubi – the man had leaned back, resting his elbows against the mattress behind him, seemingly unaware of how his button-down slid away from his stomach. Knowing him, Ritsuka wouldn't have been surprised to find out he was letting that happen very intentionally.

"Ritsuka and I were simply talking." The blonde blinked lazily at his roommate.

"Care to join us?"

Kyo all but exploded.

"God, no I would not like to join your little chat!" he waved his arms frantically, turning red.

"This is... this is illegal! Do you get that?" he had barely spluttered it out when a small chocked gasp broke off his sentence.

He was right; he was so, so right.

Ritsuka wrenched his eyes closed, breathing through his nostrils deeply to will away to burning behind his eyelids. His mind felt heavy and fogged, running through scenarios, running through feelings again and again. Suddenly the room felt too small for the three of them – there wasn't enough air to breathe. He needed to get away from anywhere confined by 4 walls. He needed to run.

He just barely registered the split-second-too-slow fingers that grazed his arm as he bolted from the room. Later he would notice the long angry scratched they left on his skin, but not now. Now he was numb, his mouth dry and gasping for something, perhaps trying to swallow the lead-heavy words that hung in the air.

He was a child, he didn't belong here.

His sock clad feet skidded on the hardwood as he rounded a tight corner of the tiny apartment; falling to his knees, his was upright again barely had he touched the floor. He sharply released a breath that had caught in his lungs, ducking away from a cabinet and snatching his book-bag from where it had been tossed thoughtlessly by a wall the night before.

Pushing a foot into each of two shoes roughly, he whirled around to slam the front door before the wide eyes of a slender blonde man, who stood stiffly and listened as uneven running steps faded down his building's hallway.

Ritsuka hauled his bag over one shoulder, wincing as is rubbed against a particularly sore spot. His breathing was still deep and quick – he hadn't been able to quiet his legs and stop running for nearly two blocks after Soubi's apartment had faded from sight. He took a large, determined gulp of air and breathed out evenly, forcing his heartbeat to slow its haste. His clothing, his hair, everything smelled like a very specific, confusing man.

Kyo's taunting voice slivered into his thoughts, dropping a stone into the pit of his stomach – what was Soubi doing? Touching him the way he did, speaking the way he often did, short inches away from his ear.

He set his jaw determinedly and pulled his shoulders back – child or not, he was no plaything for some pervert. He would never allow this to happen again.

A pair of uniform-clothed girls walked briskly by him, brushing his shoulder.

"Ah, excuse me!" One of them called back in a sweet voice before turning back to her identically dressed friend.

Ritsuka nearly smiled before a thought hit him – they were wearing uniforms. School uniforms. His school's uniforms! It couldn't be….

"W-ait! Hold on!" He stretched a hand towards the retreating girls and jogged up to them.

One blushed prettily, the other scowled.

"I, uh, could you… tell me the time?" He paused a second – "and the day?"

"Monday… 7:30" The one to his right, a short, thin girl with dark curls, told him after a moment's silence.

"Shit!"

Ritsuka didn't swear – it was one of Semei's rules. But this, this merited every swear in the whole of the universe – he was tired, upset, smelled like he had just run a marathon, and was generally entirely unprepared to be seated in his homeroom in less than 40 minutes.

The girls gasped near-simultaneously and gave him dirty looks as they strode away from him hurriedly – what if someone had seen them talking with such a rude-mouth? The girl with dark curls threw a questioning glance back over her shoulder as her friend pulled her away by the elbow;

"How upsetting; so cute, and no manners!" He heard her whisper.

Ritsuka sighed – was the world making fun of him today? Another problem to throw on top of the heap. Hopefully they would keep their mouths closed at school, least he get a reputation among every girl in his grade.

A shower, a shirt and some rice – he scrapped everything in his head unrelated to primary needs and wracked his brain for anything else his body required to keep him awake.

Oh, and superpowers.


	6. Chapter 6

Woah that took a while. Yeeaaahh, this wont be interesting. im not going to lie. it's a transition chapter, it needs to happen...

#

Ritsuka rocked back on the hind legs of his chair, letting out a tired, satisfied sigh and watched the empty instant-ramen bowl teeter on his desk before tipping over. Lunch was officially over. As he should have probably expected, breakfast was just too time-consuming to accommodate that morning. So, he had gone without, and had been feeling the wrath of his churning stomach ever since. He closed his eyes and grinned at the relief food had brought him – his heart might have been a wreck, but his mind had gone into "get through the day alive mode," and so for the moment, the boy was entirely satisfied.

The rest of the day slid by monotonously, coming and going in a furiously normal way. The final bell chimed, spilling students down hallways, their watery reflections mimicking them in the freshly waxed tiles. Both the students on top and below the gray tiles looked identical amidst themselves, thought Ritsuka as he joined the uniform-clad stream. He pulled at his bag strap as it became caught between two senior-year boys, who seemed to take no notice as he wove between them and tried to make as straight a route as possible to the large front doors.

Soubi would be waiting for him there.

After all, he had to be – No matter what had happened, he would definitely come. Ritsuka would take the three cement steps leading from his school, sigh as he heard his black uniform shoes 'tap' onto the concrete sidewalk, close his eyes for a moment as he approached the concrete pillars erecting the concrete walls surrounding the building, and then finally open his eyes to find Soubi there. That was the way it always went.

He would smile slyly at the boy and right then the concrete would melt away. There would be no more gray, no more stone or milky reflections, just the blur of Soubi's faded purple trench coat as it trailed behind him and the translucent blonde of his hair. Then Ritsuka would swallow a grateful smile of fear of seeming too eager and stumble to catch up.

He pulled one of the two large doors open -

First step.

Second step.

Third step.

'tap'

A deep sigh…

Eyes drifting closed, feet following a too-familiar path.

Pillars, heated from the day's sun and looking no more warm than they did in the coldest winters…

He opened one eye at a time and looked at the one to his right. There was no elegant man propped against it daintily. He pivoted his head to the left, only to find a symmetrical picture. He should have known better – it didn't smell like cigarette smoke. Soubi wasn't here.

"Ritsuka!" A hand caught his shoulder.

"Ritsuka, Yuiko has been looking for you all afternoon!" Ritsuka forced a smile at the perky girl, craning his head up to look her in the eye and taking a step backward to make it easier on his neck – it was the least he would do, having purposely avoided her after morning classes.

"I was busy." Ritsuka said plainly, feeling almost guilty as he watched her face fall.

"But… you've found me now." He reassured her.

"Oh, well, I was heading over to the mall to grab some bubble tea and…" She smiled shyly as she trailed off. "Come with me?"

Ritsuka cringed. He couldn't go; he had to wait for Soubi! It's not as though he wasn't going to come, he was simply running late, that's all. It had happened before.

Yuiko caught the look in his eye almost immediately – "Is Agatsuma-san running late today?" She said carefully, fully aware that she was only humoring Ritsuka's dwindling hope of seeing the tall blonde rounding the corner towards the school any minute.

Ritsuka fidgeted under Yuiko's steady look. She was expecting him to answer.  
His body was rigid, his ears turning red. He quickly glanced both ways down the street, hesitating, and hoping the taller girl wouldn't notice his anxiousness.

"He… he had classes today. He won't come." He fought not to throw another look over his shoulder as Yuiko clasped a hand around his wrist and pulled him away from the concrete pillars.

"Oh, well let's go then!"

#

Days had passed – not hours, days. Ritsuka was borderline furious. What was he supposed to think, let alone feel, after being all-but-molested and then forgotten?! No late-night visits, no after-school pick ups, hell, not even a single phone call. Soubi was supposed to be the parasite he could never get rid of! Well, too be fair, the boy still couldn't get rid of him, but for the past week Soubi had been plaguing his mind, not his life. Countless times he would forget to breathe when a blonde head appeared in a crowd on the street, only to realize it was some school-girl's bleached mop of chemically-damaged hair, not the man that was slowly becoming his obsession.

Ritsuka tugged his jacket's zipper up to his nose and exhaled warm air into the small cocoon he had created. Pushing his wallet into his right jean pocket, he set out at a brisk pace to the market. Three cloves of garlic, a couple of packets of dried seaweed, and he'd be finished this week's shopping.

The narrow street was busy and warm, smells and lights spilling from the open doors of the stores that lined it. Enthusiastic vendors seemed unfazed by the cold of the autumn evening as they called out to by passers, mostly women, who replied from behind armfuls of groceries. Some yelled to him, calling him by name – he was a regular to most of these stores.

"Ah, Ritsuka-kun! Fresh salmon just arrived this afternoon! What do you say?"

"Not today, thank-you." Ritsuka spun back around to the stout old man standing outside his small store, about to wave him off and continue weaving the crowd towards the one he had in mind, when his legs attached themselves to the ground. Just past the man's shoulder, framed by the large wall-to-wall window of his shop stood someone tall, slender and unmistakable. His broad shoulders, narrowed waist, messily done blonde bun; the boy's heartbeat leapt wildly.

He liked his lips hastily; "O-on second thought, fish, yeah, t-that's good, I'll take some."  
Rubbing his suddenly sweating palms against the cold denim of his jeans, he followed a very satisfied owner into his store.


	7. Chapter 7

Hey everyone! big news - next chapter, which you should all expect to be seeing soon, will be the last! :) thats right, almost done.  
Seeing as thats pretty important, I'd love to have your imput into it. So if you are so kind as to review between now and the time that it's posted (about a week?) please include your ideas, your expectations, and anything you'd like to see in the grand finalle. things like lemon vs none, happy/sad ending and anythign else you can think of are HUGELY apprectiated. Thanks in advance!  
cheers,  
-UponABlueMoon

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The bell above the door swung wildly, disturbed from its rest, but Soubi paid no mind to the new customer. Ritsuka considered walking back and yanking that bell until it's string snapped – is that what it would take for him to be noticed? He ground his teeth together and stomped as loudly as he could while looking casual. Then he cleared his throat. Then he accidentally dropped a large packet of candies. Still, the blonde stood unfazed, pulling his bottom lip into his mouth as he flipped through a magazine picked from a rack of identical ones.

By now the vendor was thoroughly confused – his best customer had come in asking for fish, and promptly walked away from him as soon as within the store. Now he was clanking together cans of pickled foods, opening every musical greeting card in his store, and creeping rather noticeably towards a selection of fashion journals. He stood dumbfound with a half-cut slice of salmon in his hands; children were so confusing…

It was as though the idiot was in a trance, Ritsuka decided. The neighboring storeowner had already knocked against the wall – twice – yet Soubi remained static. That was it – he was being ignored. Bluntly, blatantly, shamelessly ignored!

His blood boiled.

Lightheaded and furious, the boy let everything in his arms go, barely registering the man yelling at him from behind the counter. He stepped between the spilled packages without sparing any of them a glance, his eyes trained on his weakness, enemy, his love.

That damn magazine, he was still reading it! Three long strides and his arm dashed out towards it. The next moment it was torn in half between Soubi's large hands. He pulled at the scraps of bright glossy paper, throwing them aside.

"Soubi!" He gritted out, clutching at another shred of magazine. Ritsuka was seething, his anger fueled further when the tall man made no attempt to reply.

"You… monster! How dare you treat me like your toy?! What am I to you, Soubi! Your sick fetish? Your pet? Tell me Soubi, or are you still deciding yourself? Maybe you're tired of me already – I'm not cute enough. Right?" He sneered.

The room fell silent save for the buzzing in Ritsuka's ears. The vendor coughed loudly some isles away.

He fisted a handful of blonde hair roughly.

"Look at me!" His voice had never sounded so foreign to himself. It was so much louder than he anticipated, but simultaneously so much less strong. It was desperate, pleading, echoing in his ears.

He shoved a shaky hand into his coat pocket, wrapping his fingers around the cold metallic phone there. He dangled the wildly swinging phone from its chord between them; "Not one call… In a week. Are you human at all?!"

"I though it would be best not to - "

"Not best to my ass!"

He yanked the blonde strands in his hand, soon abandoning them in a crumpled mess to clutch at Soubi's chin instead, his pale neck, pulling him towards himself. He was acting on impulse. Barely a second had passed when a set of alarmingly calm blue eyes rose to meet his. Suddenly Ritsuka didn't have the upper hand anymore. He gulped thickly.

"Soubi…Tell me…" He finally said, coming down from the anger that had propelled him and suddenly feeling scared.

Another second of silence, and then lips on his forehead. He should have felt sick – should have told him just how sick all of this was, possibly passed a harsh hand against his cheek for effect. Instead, Ritsuka didn't even bother to suppress the sob that made his shoulders collapse.

It just felt too good… the days of thinking about those same lips had left him exhausted, and he fell limply against the warm body in front of him. His forehead dropped onto the larger man's shoulder, who must have been kneeling, Ritsuka realized, to compromise his height this way. The boy couldn't bother opening his eyes to check. Instead he grabbed hold of Soubi's clothing, pressing himself against the spot where a muffled, calming thump-thump seeped through the older man's shirt.

It might have taken minutes, or perhaps hours, but however much later, Ritsuka willed himself to pull away.

"Take me home." He said simply, dryly. He felt rather than saw Soubi nod his head obediently against him and allowed a large hand to guide him out of the store by the small of his back. Then he stepped aside, forcing the hand away. He walked a half-step ahead of the man at his side, and he, understanding, fell into place behind his master.

Soubi broke the silence; "You should punish me." It was another silence nearly as long before he was answered.

"I am your master."

Was he to respond? "Yes."

"You belong to me."

Unhesitatingly - "Yes."

Ritsuka stopped abruptly, turninghis head behind him.

"Then who are you to tell me what I should do with you?" He began to walk again.

"Forgive me." This time there was no response. Soubi frowned to see the words make his sacrifice flinch as though a bullet had just flown by his ear.

The streets grew more and more sparse of people and instead more crowded with trees; Lonely light posts stretched their shadows, one trailing the other, as they approached a low house with faded paint.

Ritsuka turned to the other man but refused to look up at him.

"You can go now." He said tiredly.

"Come back… later."

"When?"

But the boy was already latching closed a small gate and walking across the yard to his door. He didn't bother to look back nor reply to the question. Instead he pushed past the entrance and kicked it closed with the heel of his foot.

Soubi stood motionless. This was familiar, yet so different – it was as though he had been in this very moment in time before, but of course he understood that many things were different then. He remembered standing in this same spot just over a year ago as a very similar ear-clad boy carelessly shut a door before his face. That boy, however, had been taller. That boy had none of the open, clean innocence nor adolescent shyness that Ritsuka had. He was charming and marble-cold, iron-willed and soft-spoken, gentle and awe-strikingly cruel. A creature woven of contradictions.

That time, Soubi had been the one flinching at words and caresses, knowing them all to be false. He would let himself be lured trustingly into the kisses his previous master so rarely treated him to, and would cradle his own shattered emotions once his master tired of toying with him and shut the door. He relished in that pain, knowing it had been caused by a few brief moments of being wanted.

He unconsciously slid his fingers across the smooth scar tissue coiling his neck; an example of one of Semei's adoring moods gone astray. He shivered pleasantly at the memory, however torturous.

Come back later.

Soubi chewed on his lip. Now it was… 5 and a half minutes later. And so, by some amount, it was technically… 'later'. He measured up against the open balcony window.

Ritsuka peeled his t-shirt off, tossing it across the back of the nearby chair. Next he slid open his closet, pulling out one of his older brother's old shirts at random. He inhaled deeply as he put it on, hoping to catch a lingering scent. Countless washes had left it with only the smell of detergent. He stepped out of his jeans, letting them pool on the floor, and crawled across his bed to the farthest end. By all means, today's incident should have left him with if not satisfaction then at least closure, but it didn't. Instead he felt restless, as though everything around him was too quiet – couldn't the world tell he had just had his heart broken? Something momentous should have happened right then, but nothing stirred.

Suddenly the balcony window gave a huge sigh and buckled out of its frame – Ritsuka all but screamed. Scrambling out of a tangle of blankets, he fell on his hands and knees on the hardwood, eyes wide. This was not what he had in mind.

Everything resumed its stillness. The boy held his breath. Nothing moved in the darkness behind the dislodged glass. Slowly, he kicked away the sheets wrapped around his legs and still crouching, made his way to the balcony. He stood. The windowpane, taller and wider than he, lay at his feet. He stepped over it and into the cold autumn night, scanning the balcony; the small plants were undisturbed, the railing unharmed… he frowned.

"Soubi….?" He asked his surroundings.

"Ritsuka." The boy jumped, snapping his head to the left.

The tall, thin shadow in the corner shuffled awkwardly.

"You _idiot_ what did you _do_?!" Ritsuka threw his hands up – Soubi was such a child.

"Forgive me."

Ritsuka's ears folded back as he scowled; "Stop saying that! I order you!"

"Might I… make a suggestion?"

Hesitant nod.

"You should punish me."

"UH!" a long string of cursing followed the boy as he stormed back into his room, thoroughly freezing and fuming. "Get in here you dolt!" Soubi obeyed, uncharacteristically sober and looking up at Ritsuka as thought about to be scolded. Being a good two heads taller, the boy couldn't figure out how, exactly, Soubi managed to look adorably small.

Had Ritsuka been more attentive, he would have seen the way Soubi's eyes lingered on his worn shirt, or the way his lips pressed together in a thin line.  
He noticed the more obvious: the man's hands tugging at the bandages surrounding his neck, loosening them.

Ritsuka gasped; did Soubi actually think he would…? The boy gaped fish-mouthed as his fighter pulled apart long, white strip after strip. Soon the ugly latticework of scars stood against his skin, looking angry, jagged and wrong as it became framed by the man's soft strawberry blonde hair. He seemed conscious of Ritsuka's discomfort, because he pushed more of those gold strands in front of his shoulder to cover the permanent necklace. Next he took a step forward and kneeled easily before him, as though offering his flesh to the boy.

His eyes said _continue it, please. _


End file.
